STURGIS, MI --Chance Stewart said he is not quite ready to give up his family life for the rigors of being a college student-athlete.

As a result, the 6-foot-6, 210-pound Sturgis High School senior quarterback and Western Michigan University football commit said he will not be enrolling early to join the Broncos for spring ball to enjoy a few more months at home and to finish out his high school athletic career playing basketball and baseball.

"A real main reason to stay is I’m not quite ready to leave the family yet," Stewart said. "It’s a mature thing to do to leave in January and I just don’t think I’m quite there yet, to say goodbye to my brother and sister and my dad and my mom. I just don’t think I’m quite there yet. I’m still going to go in there in June and I’m still committed to Western 100 percent and those things don’t change."

If Stewart would have enrolled for the spring semester at WMU he would have signed as a member of the 2013 class, which would have opened up another scholarship for the 2014 class, and he would have had a head start at learning the Broncos' offensive system.

National signing day for the 2014-15 football class is Feb. 5, 2014.

Regardless of when he joined the Broncos, Stewart said he knew he would starting at the bottom.

"I knew going in as a freshman I was going to be at the bottom of the depth chart," he said. "You know that. Going in in January I would have still been at the bottom of the depth chart and I would have had to work my way all the way up. Now, I just give myself a few less months to prove my point. I’m going to go in there in June and work my butt off and see what happens. That’s all they can ask for and that’s what I’m going to do."

“It all depends who’s here in the spring,” Fleck said of Terrell holding on to the starting job. “ If no one comes early, then he’s going to have a lot of reps in the spring. He’s going to have an advantage. Coming in as a true freshman and playing quarterback is a very tough thing to do.”

True freshman Cam Thomas (6-2, 179), who is redshirting this season, is also expected to compete for the starting job next year.

"I took it into real consideration," Stewart said. "I have my schedule around it so that I possibly could do it and academically in January if I wanted to leave I could do it. I have all of the credits lined up."

After talking with his family, Sturgis head coach Jimmy Lamb, personal coach Evan Sharpley, who is a former Notre Dame quarterback, and a handful of other concerned community members, Stewart said he decided to stay.

When he committed to WMU he was a 4-star recruit, according to BroncoBlitz.com, but he was downgraded to a 3-star player heading into his senior season, possibly because his statistics weren't on the same level as other players at the 4-star level.

For his career, Stewart threw for 6,411 yards and 56 touchdowns to 28 interceptions. He completed 466 of 891 passes for a 52.3 completion percent. During his senior season, when Sturgis finished with a 5-5 record that included a 16-0 playoff loss to a strong St. Joseph team, he was 154-for-295 (52.2 percent) for 2,003 yards and 17 touchdowns to nine picks.

Stewart rushed the ball 76 times during his senior season for 165 yards and four touchdowns.

His numbers might not explode off the page, but Stewart exudes confidence and leadership qualities that originally attracted Wisconsin and drew Fleck in like a magnet.

Stewart said he isn't worried about the people who question whether he will be a successful Division I quarterback.

"It’s a small town," Stewart said of Sturgis. "Not a lot of people go Division I. We’re not a football powerhouse. We have a bunch of kids that do their best. To the people that say that, they clearly don’t know me or have seen us play football."

The Broncos are coming off a 35-32 overtime loss at Eastern Michigan and host Central Michigan at noon Saturday.